Internal Grant Committee Meeting 3 November 2015

Transcription

1 Ministry of Foreign Affairs - MENA File no.: Internal Grant Committee Meeting 3 November 2015 Agenda Item no.: 1 1. Title: Lebanon Syrian Crisis Trust Fund 2. Partners: World Bank Multi-Donor Trust Fund Lebanon 3. Amount: 30.0 million DKK 4. Duration: Previous Grants: N/A 6. Strategies and policy priorities: 7. Danish National Budget account code: N/A Other initiatives in Asia 8. Desk officer: Nille Gry Olesen 9. Head of Department: Jens-Otto Horslund 10. Summary: The focus of the Trust Fund is to contain the spill-over of the Syrian crisis in Lebanon. In this context, the World Bank is pursuing a two-pronged strategy: addressing the near-term impact of the Syria conflict on service delivery and social cohesion; while supporting the country s development agenda and laying the ground for longer-term growth and job creation. The Fund has approximately 74 million USD in contributions and has to date approved projects focusing on supporting emergency municipal services, education system stabilization, emergency primary healthcare restoration as well as support to the Lebanese government s national poverty targeting program. 1

2 LEBANON SYRIAN CRISIS TRUST FUND PROJECT PROPOSALS A. BACKGROUND Given the World Bank s mandate and authorizing environment, the Bank s focus is to contain the spillover of the Syrian crisis on the neighboring countries. In this context, the Bank is pursuing a two-pronged strategy in Lebanon: addressing the near-term impact of the Syria conflict on service delivery and social cohesion; while supporting the country s development agenda and laying the ground for longer-term growth and job creation. As part of this effort, and following the Bank-led Economic and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) of the Syrian Conflict and subsequent Roadmap of Priority Interventions, the Bank set up a Multi-Donor Trust Fund to help mitigate the impact of the Syrian crisis on Lebanon. The Lebanon Syrian Crisis Trust Fund (LSCTF) is operational, and three projects have been approved for funding to date: (1) Emergency Municipal Services for US$10 million; (2) Education System Stabilization for US$32 million; and (3) Emergency Primary Healthcare Restoration for US$15 million. To date, the LSCTF has about US$74 million in contributions from Norway, France, Finland, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK-Department for International Development (DFID), and the World Bank s State and Peace Building Fund. To mitigate the impact of the Syrian conflict on poor Lebanese, the Bank is also supporting scaling up of the Government s National Poverty Targeting Program to reach those Lebanese affected by the Syrian crisis and all Lebanese households under the extreme poverty line. The scale up is a 3-year US$8.2 million grant financed Emergency National Poverty Targeting Program Project. B. DESCRIPTIONS OF PROJECTS FINANCED FROM THE LSCTF Lebanon Emergency Municipal Services Project (Project Amount: US10 million) The project development objective is to address urgent community priorities in select municipal services, targeting areas most affected by the influx of Syrian refugees. Municipal services include solid waste management, water, wastewater and sanitation, roads (and related services), recreational facilities and community activities. The Project is fully aligned with the Government s priorities as a result of the Syrian crisis and is specifically designed to support the Government Roadmap s key strategic priorities related to restoring and building resilience in equitable access to and quality of public services and strengthening social cohesion. In light of the limited financing envelope, the project will initially target eleven unions of municipalities that have been identified in collaboration with CDR. The targeting is based on a list established by UNHCR, UNICEF and the Government that identifies municipalities which are particularly impacted by the crisis due to the ratio of Syrians to Lebanese and the level of poverty among the Lebanese population. The Project consists of three components: (i) Emergency Response; (ii) Rehabilitation of Critical Infrastructure; and (iii) Project Implementation Support. Component 1: Emergency Response (US$3.5 million). This component will finance the provision of high priority municipal services (Subcomponent 1A) and initiatives that promote social interaction and collaboration (Subcomponent 1B) in the eleven participating unions of municipalities. Allocation of resources among the participating unions of municipalities will be related to the number of Syrians hosted, considering the number of Syrian refugees as a proxy of the additional stress on local communities. Initiatives will be selected in consultation with municipalities and communities, with a decentralized approach to decision-making. These initiatives will provide non-exclusionary benefits addressing some of the most immediate service needs in the unions most affected by the crisis and will be aimed at: (i) improving safety and mobility; (ii) mitigating the increasing health and environmental risks associated with the deterioration of water, waste, and sanitation services; and (iii) increasing collaboration and interaction amongst the communities. 1

3 Subcomponent 1A Service Delivery will focus on improving municipal service delivery in areas such as water supply and wastewater, solid waste management, roads improvement, and recreational facilities and community centers. Subprojects will be small in scale, and will, depending on the expressed needs of communities and municipalities, include small works (such as road maintenance), equipment (e.g. well generators, water filters for schools, etc.) and services (e.g. surge capacity for garbage collection). Subcomponent 1B Community Activities will finance activities that the communities and municipalities find conducive to reduce some of the social tensions stemming from cohabitation. In light of the increasing youth unemployment, communities may demand activities that can inform or engage the youth. Activities could also be targeting children through after school activities or learning programs, as well as women by facilitating for example skills exchanges, child care opportunities.. Component 2: Rehabilitation of Critical Infrastructure (US$5.5 million). This component will finance larger works to rehabilitate and/or develop critical infrastructure in the areas of solid waste management, roads improvement, water and sanitation, and community infrastructure. Anticipated types of infrastructure include waste sorting and composting plants, small scale waste water treatment plants and rehabilitation of roads exceeding the union allocations under Component 1. Component 3: Project Implementation Support (US$1 million). This component will finance the management of the Project and any support needed for the implementation of the decentralized, consultative approach. The component will cover the costs of the Project Management Unit (PMU) housed in CDR, which will be responsible for implementing the Project. The unit will hire/supplement the required staff to carry out the responsibilities of the PMU, including coordination, reporting, financial management, procurement, social and environmental safeguards. The PMU will also plan and implement a public outreach campaign with the purpose of aligning communities and unions around the Project, as well as showcase the Project results to other stakeholders, including central level agencies and potential donors. Municipalities and/or unions (depending on size and capacity) will be in charge of undertaking the consultations with their constituencies, using already established participatory mechanisms and platforms where they exist. Finally, the component may also fund other activities deemed conducive to the promotion of decentralized decision-making, such as knowledgesharing events. Implementation Status The project was approved by the Bank on June 20, 2014 and by the Council of Ministers on August 28, The Grant Agreement was signed between the Bank and the Government on September 12, The project was declared effective on February 25, The CDR is currently awaiting the receipt of the US$1.5 million to the project Designated Account at BDL (under CDR accounts) from the Ministry of Finance s Transit Account. Progress on project components is as follows: Component 1A (Emergency Response): Over US$2 million has been committed (contracts awarded for equipment in an amount of US$1.33 million and for works in an amount of US$600,000). An additional contract for water filters for Tyre Union schools is in the process of being awarded. While awating for the transfer of US$1.5 million to CDR's designated account, a request for direct payment to fund these contracts has been sent to the World Bank by CDR. Component 1B (Community Activities): consultations are progressing according to schedule. Component 2 (Rehabilitation of Critical Infrastructure): consultations are complete and the list of priority projects to be implemented is being finalized. 2

4 Lebanon Emergency Education System Stabilization Project (Project Amount: US$32 million) Syrian refugee children currently represent 20% of the total student population in public schools, and have required the introduction of a second shift of instruction in the afternoon to accommodate demand. Moreover, government expenditures in the education sector have increased by approximately 14% from (AY) to (AY) The World Bank, in partnership with DFID (Department for International Development) and the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MEHE), has prepared the grant-financed Emergency Education System Stabilization Project (EESSP), to support stabilization of the Lebanese public education sector in the face of a continued influx of Syrian refugees. The EESSP is in full alignment with the Reaching All Children with Education Lebanon (RACE) strategy of MEHE and in harmonization with other donors engaged in education in Lebanon. The project complements new support to first, second shifts and non-formal education (NFE) managed by the UN since the start of the Syria refugee inflow in MEHE and the local education donor group are working collaboratively in the RACE Executive Committee to align donor support and fully maximize the comparative advantages of the different partners to support MEHE to optimize the Lebanese education system over the longer term. The EESSP is a subset of elements of the larger EESS Program. The EESS Program, estimated at US$160 million, is a subset of RACE priorities, focused on those RACE elements that are high need and not covered by other donors. The project development objective is to support access to the Lebanese public education system and to improve the learning environment in response to the continued influx of Syrian refugee children. The Project is designed to alleviate short-term financial pressure on MEHE and invest in long term access and quality to provide lasting benefit to the Lebanese public school system. The project consists of 3 components: (i): Support to Schools; (ii) Learning Environment Quality; and (ii) Project Management and Support. The three-year project aims to address two central human development and education system challenges facing Lebanon: maintaining the ability of schools to provide education services and maintaining the quality of the learning environment. Component 1: Support to Schools (US$13.5 million). The Project will provide financing for school operating costs at the level of the school. Two funds currently exist to serve essential school needs, the Parent Council Fund and the School Fund, each with its own account for each school. Each fund has its own eligible expenditures under MEHE regulations. The Parent Council Fund, which is normally financed at the rate of US$60 per student, can be used to pay for remedial instruction for students, student health expenses, schoolrelated student activities and extracurricular activities sponsored by the school as per Decree No. 2153/M, The School Fund, financed at the rate of US$100 per student, can be used to pay for things such as heat, electricity, paper, pens and other minor classroom supplies as per Decree No. 1845/M, MEHE currently provides the majority of the financing for these two funds at these rates, supplemented by other agencies. This component will support these funds at a student per-capita rate of approximately US$160 for an average of 28,000 of these students for each of the three years of the life of the Project. Component 2: Learning Environment Quality (US$16.6 million) Sub-component 2.1: School rehabilitation (US$5.2 million). This component will improve the quality of the public school learning environment by financing the rehabilitation of school buildings that are in the greatest need of repair. Activities will include improving structural security, access to water and sanitation with consideration of girls and boys needs, as well as the physical appearance of the school. While this project will only be able to cover a small portion of the total need, successful implementation is expected to pave the way for other donors to finance additional works either as an expansion to this project or through alternative mechanisms. 3

5 Sub-component 2.2: Supplemental School Financing (US$5.7 million). This component will provide small emergency funds to a majority of public primary schools in the country to fulfill frontline school needs with a focus on helping schools improve the learning environment and foster social cohesion between different student communities through extra-curricular activities. The funds would be used for purchasing items for classrooms and/or extracurricular activities that would enhance student and teacher motivation, foster pride in public schools and promote attendance and retention as well as minor physical improvements. Sub-component 2.3: National Textbook Program for Public Schools (US$5.1 million). This subcomponent seeks to provide national textbooks and workbooks to students (grades 1 through 9) enrolled in public schools for the school years and , depending on final student numbers and negotiated textbook prices. Textbooks were distributed for the school year , expanding earlier textbook distribution initiatives by MEHE in school year DfID spent US$2.52 million to provide textbooks to approximately 80 percent of all students in grades 1-9 for one year. The Project would spend approximately US$5 million to provide curricular textbooks and workbooks. Sub-component 2.4: Direction d Orientation Pédagogique et Scolaire Strengthening (US$600,000). The Direction d Orientation Pédagogique et Scolaire (DOPS) is a department comprising teachers within the Directorate General of Education who provide instructional, health and psycho-social counselling to other teachers and students in the national public school system. Strengthening DOPS is a priority for MEHE and the project would finance essential tools to enable this unit to provide high quality services to schools, teachers and students. The DOPS has three different types of counsellors: pedagogic, health and psycho-social/child protection. The DOPS sub-component would include support to continuing professional development for DOPS staff and the provision of resources and equipment for DOPS staff to efficiently and effectively carry out visits to schools, report and recommend support activities and provide for teacher centered workshops. Component 3: Project Management and Support (US$1.9 million). MEHE will implement all of RACE and EESS project activities, including the activities funded by other donors to RACE. This modality ensures that this project will strengthen government leadership of the response and contribute to sustainability. The Minister will be responsible for Project oversight, delegating specific responsibilities to the RACE Executive Committee (REC), and day-to-day coordination of project activities to the RACE PMU, created within MEHE. The PMU will coordinate with various department heads in the central and regional offices. Detailed modalities and arrangements for financial and procurement operational processes, transactions, and decisions will be developed by the PMU and will be outlined in the Financial and Procurement sections of the Project Operations Manual. PMU staff members shall be financed under this project and agreements with other donors. Positions financed by this Project will be procured in accordance with World Bank procurement procedures. This amount will cover key staff positions as well as operating costs for the PMU. Implementation Status. The project was approved by the Bank on March 9, The Grant Agreement was signed on July 22 and the project declared effective the same day. A World Bank mission to support implementation visited Lebanon from July 28 to August 7. The mission worked with the Ministry of Education to begin implementation of a detailed action plan to support rapid flow of funds and implementation prior to the start of the school year. The team is currently working with the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Education & Higher Education to get the Designated Account open as soon as possible and a forthcoming mission is planned from October Lebanon Emergency Primary Health Care Restoration Project (Project Amount: US$15 million) The emergency situation created by the Syrian conflict further exacerbated the low pre-crisis capacity and poor infrastructure of primary health care facilities in Lebanon. Only 50 percent of the population is insured leaving the other half of the population - namely the informal sector, the poor and low income groups - without any health coverage. For the 1.6 million population, the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) serves as a provider of last resort providing hospital coverage while excluding primary care. Currently, primary health care is provided 4

6 to low income groups through a network of 182 contracted Primary Health Care Centers (PHCCs) which are predominantly run by non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The basic package includes immunization, reproductive health, maternal and child health (MCH) services, health education, dental care, and the provision of essential drugs. The objective of the Project is to provide primary health care coverage to poor Lebanese affected by the Syrian crisis. Specifically, the project aims to provide 150,000 out of the 253,313 enrollees of the National Poverty Targeting Program (NPTP) with a newly introduced package of basic health services through the MoPH Network of Primary Health Care Clinics. It also aims to reduce direct payment of NPTP enrollees on health by subsidizing the cost of the BBP. The project is comprised of three components: (i) provision of a subsidized package of essential healthcare services to eligible poor beneficiaries; (ii) capacity building of contracted service providers; and (iii) project management and monitoring. Component 1: Provision of the Essential Healthcare Package (US$9 million financed from LSCTF; additional US$6 million financed by MoPH). This component subsidizes a package of essential healthcare services to 150,696 out of the 340,000 poor Lebanese identified by the NPTP as living below the poverty line. The NPTP is based on a PMT targeting mechanism that ensures that the most vulnerable groups within the population would be reached. Priority in the selection of beneficiaries is given to those living in areas most affected by the Syrian crisis. The MoPH provides an in-kind contribution in the amount of US$6 million providing drugs and vaccines to providers Six evidence-based packages will be provided under this: (i) three age specific and gender wellness packages (ages 0-18, females 19 years and above, males 19 years and above); (ii) two care packages for the two common non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in Lebanon; diabetes and hypertension; and (iii) a reproductive health package focusing on pre and post-natal care. Eligible beneficiaries will be covered for the following: (i) screening, preventive, and health promotion visits; (ii) essential clinical and diagnostic tests; (iii) prenatal and post care visits; (iv) consultation visits for the treatment of diabetes and hypertension; and (v) prescription medications. Component 2: Readiness and Capacity Building of Primary Health Care Centers (US$3.17 million financed from LSCTF). This component will finance preparation and scaling-up the capabilities of the contracted PHCCs for the implementation of the program. This will be based on the results of a rapid facility assessment conducted by the MoPH to identify gaps in PHCCs capacities and resources to respond to contract requirements. It will also finance technical assistance and training for upgrading the skills of personnel of contracted health centers through short refresher courses to help them cope with additional load and immediate needs of beneficiaries. Capacity building will include training in the essential healthcare services guidelines, M&E, reporting and accounting requirements. Component 3: Project Outreach, Management and Monitoring (US$1.68 million financed from the LSCTF). The objective of this component is to: (i) ensure an effective and efficient, administration, regulation, and implementation of the project; (ii) improve the effectiveness of the MoPH in contracting with PHCCs; (iii) rigorous monitoring and performance assessment of the project outputs and objectives. To achieve its objectives, this component will finance technical assistance for the following activities: a) Support the Program Management Unit (PMU) in the MoPH. b) Provide technical assistance in the development and management of contracts, especially the verification and validation of the PHCCs financial and technical reports as well as the payment process. 5

7 c) Update and maintain the Health Information System (HIS) (including provision of information technology hardware and software) at MoPH with links to other related agencies involved in the management of the Program. d) Initiate rigorous monitoring and assessment of the program through setting the baseline, collecting the data and setting the parameters for evaluation. e) Improving the grievance and redress mechanism for improved efficiency and transparency. f) Outreach campaign and development of communication activities to inform the beneficiary population about their health rights and services provided at the PHCCs in their areas. Implementation Status. The project was approved by the Bank on March 19, The Grant Agreement was signed on July 22 and the project declared effective the same day. Consequently, the PM signed the decree for the health project and the Ministry of Finance is in the process of opening the Designated Account (DA). The Ministry of Public Health has made considerable advances with the preparatory activities for the project implementation launch, including: submitting the Project Operations Manual within one month of effectiveness as per legal agreement, preparing project implementation plans, finalizing the TORs for key PMU staff, developing the standard contracts with the Primary Health Care Centers (PHCCs), developing the Health Information System, and training of PHCCs staff in the newly developed HIS as well as medical staff in the essential healthcare package. C. OVERVIEW OF THE LEBANON SYRIAN CRISIS TRUST FUND The LSCTF serves to align donor support behind the Government-led stabilization strategy, while providing donors with assurance that reliable fiduciary safeguards are in place so that funds are used for their intended purposes. The LSCTF represents a monitorable mechanism to help Lebanon meet the increased service demands brought about by the massive refugee inflows and provides a harmonized and transparent platform for donor coordination. Fund Flows for Projects and Program Grants Funds received from donors are pooled into a single account by the Administrator. Once the Grant Agreement is signed between the Government and the World Bank and declared effective, funds can be disbursed to the Ministry of Finance, as per the process illustrated below. 6

8 Governance Structure The LSCTF has a governance structure consisting of a Steering Board (SB), a Technical Committee (TC), an Administrator, a Secretariat, Project Teams, and Implementing Partners. The roles of each are outlined below. Project Approval Process The LSCTF provides grant funding for projects, programs and related activities in support of the priorities identified in the Roadmap. Proposals should meet the following criteria: Alignment with the Government s priorities; Consistency with the overall financing priorities endorsed by the LSCTF Steering Board; Projects or programs should be channeled through government systems ( on-budget ) and government agencies; Projects must be coordinated with other relevant activities and must not duplicate with other interventions; and Projects must adhere to all relevant World Bank procedures, policies and guidelines, except when applying the UN-WB FPA. The World Bank s Role The Bank s fiduciary role in project execution is to: Ensure that the financial management procedures and guidelines are applied in all Bank financed projects. 7

9 Review on a regular basis during the year the financial management system of the project. Ensure that all funds have been used for their intended purposes with regard to efficiency and effectiveness. Review financial reports and financial statements and ascertain their accuracy in comparison to physical and financial progress. Verify that the project resources are accounted for, assets are safeguarded and payments are made to eligible expenditures. Ensure that the Bank anti-corruption guidelines are adopted. Reporting The Bank will provide the Donors with annual reports on the progress of activities financed by the Contributions, as well as current financial information relating to receipts, disbursements and fund balance in the Holding Currency with respect to the Contributions via the World Bank's Trust Funds Donor Center secure website. The Bank will also provide to the donors within six months following the end of each Bank fiscal year, an annual single audit report. Risks The MDTF was established based on the request from the Government in order to ensure that the flow of donor funds go through government channels. The objective of the LSCTF focuses on mitigating the impact of the Syrian conflict on the Lebanese people and hosting communities, taking a two-pronged approach: (i) preparing quick-disbursing emergency projects to address the impact of the crisis on public finances and improving service delivery; (ii) strengthening national systems, thereby promoting effective policy-making for medium- to longerterm development, and helping the government systems to adapt to shocks such as the current one. There is a possible risk relating to the decision making process on the Government's side which is influenced by the political situation in the country. However, this is not only attributable to the LSCTF it applies to all projects financed either bilaterally or through the UN. However, the Government has confirmed its strong commitment and support to the MDTF and its proposed interventions. In addition, grant-financed projects only require Council of Ministers approval, which has been expedited in the above three approved LSCTF projects, given the Cabinet's endorsement and ownership of the Roadmap. Parliamentary ratification is not required for grant-funded projects. Finally, because the World Bank has ongoing relationships with the relevant line ministries and, in the case of the ongoing projects, also has a functioning platform/system for scale up, additional resources provided to any of the proposed programs under the LSCTF would contribute to quick impact on the ground. With regards to fiduciary risks, these are well mitigated by the application of the Bank's regular procedures that are used for all IBRD and IDA financed projects. The World Bank as the Administrator of the MDTF oversees the administration of the MDTF by ensuring that funds are disbursed in accordance with the grant and administration agreements, as well as monitoring and reporting on all preparation and implementation aspects of fund-financed activities. For example, the Bank will apply its financial management, procurement, environmental/social safeguards, information disclosure, as well as reporting and evaluation, and other procedures to all projects for which the Bank is the Implementation Support Agent, in exactly the same way as it does for IBRD and IDA financed projects. An up-front capacity assessment of each recipient organization will be conducted, and submissions of regular interim financial reports as well as annual audited financial reports will be required, as per the Bank s grant agreement and disbursement process. As with all Bank-financed projects, each project under the LSCTF will have its own monitoring and evaluation arrangements, including a results matrix that will describe the project impact and outputs through indicators that can be monitored over the project life. In addition, standard World Bank monitoring and reporting processes will be used (Implementation Status Reports and Implementation Completion Reports). The results matrix of each of the projects are attached as Annex 1. 8